(The club of Insiders)
Extract of "Things I wish I knew before running for office. A true story of small-town-dirty-politics. A real experience of running a city council campaign in Gallatin Tennessee" written by Michelle Landry Jouvence during the 2020 Gallatin Alderman At Large Campaign.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking you are running for a seat, or running against your opponent. It should be that way, but it’s not. You are running against the entire Sumner County machine of insiders. They will all work in concert against you. Our Gallatin elected officials act like a high school clique. It’s a tight little club. Have you ever wondered why most of them run unopposed most of the time? They don’t even need to try and campaign. They don’t even need to spend a single minute talking to their constituents, because they are the only one on the ticket.
There is an inner circle. A group of connected insiders. If you look at the board members of all the boards and commissions in the City of Gallatin, Hendersonville, Sumner County; the same people (or their family members or business associates) are on all the boards. Connect the dots and the picture becomes very clear. This might have worked fine when Gallatin was a tiny town, but it’s not a tiny town any longer.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking one of “them” is on your side. Even if they like you, and they do a good job, and listen to the citizens and vote the way their constituents ask them to vote. When it comes to supporting you vs. supporting the same good ol’ club, they are 100% in that club and 100% support that club. Councilwoman Lynda Love, who was always nice, friendly, would come over and chat with me if we ran into each other, as soon as Pascal threw his hat in the ring, she unfriended me on FB, avoided talking to me at meetings and avoided me if we ran into each other in public. It was very, very weird. It made me sad because I like her. But she is part of that club, and that is that.
If you run for office, you will find that no matter how nice or friendly someone has been to you, and even if it seems like they would be on your side, don’t be fooled. They are not on your side. They will work against you.
Councilman Craig Hayes unintentionally confirmed this in a phone call with Pascal during the campaign. It was a phone call about another topic, and during the call, Craig told Pascal that even if he did get elected, Pascal wouldn’t be able to do anything, “because it will be you against 7 of us”. So, there it is. I thought they were supposed to represent their constituents, but the truth is, they see themselves as being on the same team, and if an “outsider” gets elected, it is all of “them” against you. That is sad and very telling.
I want to make clear that I think these are all nice people. I have nothing to say against any of them on a personal level. I like these people on a personal level. I am simply telling the facts about what happens if you get into politics, and you are not part of their club. They will turn against you. Some of them will get very nasty and throw dirt, some will just avoid you and work against you more subtly.
Eileen George, who ran for office the first time in 2020 for council district 2 had never met Pascal. The first time she met and spoke to Pascal was months after the election. I think she is a nice lady, but she used her influence and network to attack Pascal during the campaign.
Why do so many of them run unopposed? Pretty odd, don’t you think? What happened with Aaron Thomas? How come the newspaper keeps saying the District 2 seat only had one person “qualify to run”? That’s not true. Two people qualified. Aaron Thomas and Eileen George. Aaron pulled papers the first day, June 22 and turned in his signatures 4 days later on June 26. On his Political Treasurer paperwork from July 9, Luke Tinsley was his treasurer. The last time Aaron ran for city council, 2 years ago, his wife was his treasurer. Who is Luke Tinsley? He’s a young Sumner County Commissioner. Luke Tinsley graduated from High School in 2012, he worked for Former U.S. Rep. Diane Black, (who ran for governor in 2018). Luke was elected county commissioner in 2018, and in January of 2020, he announced that he was running for State House Representative district 40 against Terry Lynne Weaver. Diane Black, who lives in House District 40, supported and endorsed Tinsley in his announcement for State House Rep. Luke did not run. Aaron did not run. Why? That’s a good question. Before any of the 2020 election campaigning began, we had a conversation with Aaron Thomas. He told us that has aspirations to be a State Representative. He told us that the local city council seat was a stepping stone in his view. I think it is very weird that he backed off and withdrew his name from the race when Eileen came on the scene. She pulled papers on August 7 and turned in her signatures on August 10.
When Eileen came on the scene, she announced on her FB page that someone had asked her to run. At a Chamber of Commerce lunch, she said. Someone asked her where she lived, and then asked her to consider running. So, she did. And then Aaron withdrew his petition on the very last day that a person could qualify, August 20. How very interesting. Why did he wait until the last day? Was it so no one else would go in, and Eileen could run unopposed? Well, yes. Obviously. The fact that he quit is SO strange. He worked so hard in 2018 for the At Large seat when he and Steve Fann were running. He did ok, 34%. I think he could have won this time. A much easier race, just his district and probably the easiest of districts to campaign in. So, for him to quit with a statement that he didn’t think he would win and it wasn’t a good time for him to campaign. Well, I think that is BOGUS. I think “they” got him to quit so they could fill the seat w/ a chosen appointee, Eileen George. For some reason “they” didn’t want him in a city council seat.
I don’t know Eileen. Like I said, she seems like a nice lady. At the time of the campaign, Pascal had never met her, had not talked to her ever. And she wrote a scathing, libelous announcement on her FB campaign page, attacking him. I challenged her comments, asking her to prove the lies she told. She ignored my questions, and kept the post up. She clearly was told things that were not true, believed the lies and spread them to her network. A lot of people did this.
Pascal is NOT one the chosen, appointed people. They are all in this together, and if an outsider dares to run for one of those seats – watch out. “They” are coming for you.
Pascal ran at large, which is a city-wide race. Mayor Paige Brown and the council members had Shawn Fennell signs in their yards. They are certainly allowed to do that. Just know that they will all work against you and work for their guy. If you try and sit in one of those seats, you will find out that they do not want you there. Those 7 seats are PROTECTED. There is a Good Ole Boy’s (& Girl’s) network and they are desperate to keep outsiders OUT!!
There is a network of insiders that will throw dirt at you. Even beyond the social media blitzkrieg from KCT and RDB. These were all people we had never met. People who are friends with the candidate, or friends of the mayor, or friends of other councilmembers, or friends of the chamber of commerce. We don’t even know all the lies that were told about Pascal. But one we do know about is quite a story, and that is chapter 5.
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